Armor for vehicles to protect them from a ballistic threat exists. Recently, armor assemblies formed of ceramic tiles encapsulated in a metal have been used.
These armor assemblies are formed of ceramic tiles and encapsulating metals (e.g., base metal) that produce a composite component having characteristics of both materials (i.e., hardness and toughness). For example, armor assemblies formed of relatively tough aluminum and relatively hard alumina tiles have been successfully fabricated.
However, the materials from which these composite components could be made has been limited due to the different properties of the ceramic and the metal. For example, certain ceramic materials may adversely react with the base metal during the manufacturing of the assemblies. For example, the adverse reaction may be chemical or physical between the materials and may compromise one or both materials, thereby detracting from the performance of the composite component. In addition, the ceramic and the metal may have different coefficients of thermal expansion, and may expand or contract at different rates. The difference between coefficients of thermal expansion may damage the metal and/or ceramic as the composite component cools during the manufacturing of the assembly, thereby detracting from the performance of the armor assembly.
Thus, there remains a need to develop new armor assemblies formed of new materials which have not heretofore been possible.